Reggie Telmo Valdez (born October 4, 1975), known professionally as Reggie Lee, is an American [2] film and television actor. On television, he has played William "Bill" Kim on Prison Break and Sergeant Drew Wu on Grimm. In film, he has played Tai Huang in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, GCPD Officer Ross in The Dark Knight Rises and Lance Nguyen in The Fast and the Furious.
Reggie Lee | |
|---|---|
 Reggie Lee in 2007 | |
| Born | Reggie Telmo Valdez October 4, 1975 (age 49)[1] |
| Nationality | American • Filipino |
| Education | Padua Franciscan High School |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1996–present |
Early life
editValdez was born in Quezon City, the Philippines,[2] to Zenaida Telmo and Jesus Espiritu Valdez.[3] Although fluent in English, he also speaks Tagalog. At the age of five, he moved with his family to the Cleveland, Ohio area, including Parma and Strongsville. While still a student, he performed in shows at the Greenbrier Theatre (now the Cassidy Theatre) in Parma Heights and was an intern at the Cleveland Play House. He graduated from Padua Franciscan High School in Parma.[4]
Although accepted to Harvard, he instead decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue acting.[5] He later changed his last name from Valdez to Lee, stating in a 2001 interview that "they kept calling me in for Hispanic roles, and I'm a far cry from Hispanic";[4] he took the name Lee from his grandparents.[1]
Career
editIn 1992, at the age of 17, Lee moved to Los Angeles, where he joined a national tour of Miss Saigon.[1] He later worked as a dancer for Prince on the MTV Video Music Awards and toured nationally with the musical Heartstrings.[1] He was in the original company of the 1994 Broadway revival of Carousel.[1] In 1997, he received a Drama-Logue Award for his performance in F.O.B. at East West Players, an Asian-American theatre organization in Los Angeles.[1] With his role garnering critical acclaim, he also starred in their production of Carry the Tiger to the Mountain.[1]
Since starring as Lance Nguyen in The Fast and the Furious, Lee appeared as Tai Huang in the Walt Disney Pictures film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. He has played Secret Service Special Agent Bill Kim in the FOX drama Prison Break, a character he describes as "a guilty pleasure to play, wonderfully complex and devious". He appeared in Chinaman's Chance, about which he said "It's an important story that definitely needs to be told and humanized. Plus I get to play pretend in the Old West. How great is that?"[6]
In 2010, he guest-starred as Tom in the NBC series Persons Unknown.
In 2012, he played Ross, a Gotham City police officer in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises.
From 2011 to 2017, he played Desk Sergeant Drew Wu in the NBC supernatural police drama Grimm.
In 2018, for NCIS: New Orleans, he appeared as Assistant Special Agent in Charge Steven Thompson.[7] He previously appeared in an unrelated role in an episode of NCIS. In 2021, Blogtalk with MJ Racadio named him one of the "75 Most Influential Filipino-Americans".[8]
Personal life
editLee has two younger brothers, musician Nathan and comic book artist R.V. Valdez.[4][9]
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | The Big Blind | ||
| 2000 | Southstreet Lullaby | Mahler Greeter | |
| Psycho Beach Party | Dancer | ||
| Drift | Ryan | As R.T. Lee | |
| 2001 | XCU: Extreme Close Up | Huy Phan | |
| The Fast and the Furious | Lance Nguyen | ||
| The Parlor | Slappy Sue | Short film | |
| 2002 | Black Hole | Justin | |
| Reality School | Student | ||
| The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest | Suit | ||
| 2003 | Masked and Anonymous | Armed Man | |
| Net Games | Laurence | ||
| 2004 | Frankenfish | Anton | |
| 2005 | Amateur | Ron Harper | |
| 2006 | Dimples | Dr. Ross Hammer | |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | Hadras | ||
| 2007 | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | Tai Huang | |
| 2008 | I Am Somebody: No Chance in Hell | Sing | Also known as Chinaman's Chance |
| Tropic Thunder | Byong | ||
| 2009 | Drag Me to Hell | Stu Rubin | |
| Star Trek | Test Administrator Kobayashi Maru | ||
| 2010 | Life as We Know It | Alan Burke | |
| 2011 | Crazy, Stupid, Love | Officer Huang | |
| 2012 | Safe | Quan Chang | |
| Here Comes the Boom | Mr. De La Cruz | ||
| The Dark Knight Rises | GCPD Officer Ross | ||
| 2019 | Disappearance | Detective Park | |
| 2021 | Sweet Girl | Dr. Wu |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Diagnosis: Murder | Kim Ho | Episode: "The ABC's of Murder" |
| 1997 | Dangerous Minds | Student | Episode: "Teach, Don't Touch" |
| Moloney | Ramon | Episode: "Loves and Lost" | |
| 1998 | Babylon 5 | Chen Hikaru | Episode: "The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father" |
| The Wayans Bros. | Reporter #2 | Episode: "Pops' Campaign" | |
| ER | Christian | Episode: "Split Second" | |
| Sister, Sister | Lawson Hicks | Episode: "We Are Family" | |
| Hyperion Bay | Lives-on-Pizza | Episode: "Family Business" | |
| Mad About You | Gardner's Assistant | Episode: "Weekend in L.A." | |
| Seven Days | Duncan | Episode: "Shadow Play" | |
| 1999 | Beverly Hills, 90210 | Richard | Episode: "The Following Options" |
| Two of a Kind | Waiter | Episode: "When a Man Loves a Woman" | |
| Sons of Thunder | Bad Guy | Episode: "Thunder by Your Side" | |
| 2000 | Walker, Texas Ranger | Lee Chan | Episode: "The General's Return" |
| Chicago Hope | Sam | Episode: "Have I Got a Deal for You" | |
| 2001 | The Ellen Show | Kwan | Episode: "Pilot" |
| Philly | Brian Chin | 2 episodes | |
| 2001–2002 | Judging Amy | Dr. Oliver Lee | |
| 2001–2003 | The Division | Officer Jim Chang | 4 episodes |
| 2002 | Strong Medicine | Dr. Nakashima | Episode: "House Calls" |
| 2003 | Luis | Zhing Zhang | Main role |
| 2005 | Blind Justice | Don Yun | Episode: "Seoul Man" |
| 2006 | Night Stalker | Stanley Kim | Episode: "What's the Frequency, Colchak?" |
| 2006–2007 | Prison Break | William "Bill" Kim | recurring, 16 episodes |
| 2008 | NCIS | Jonathan Chow | Episode: "Stakeout" |
| 2010 | No Ordinary Family | Dr. Francis Chiles | 5 episodes |
| Persons Unknown | Tom | recurring, 7 episodes | |
| 2010–2021 | American Dad! | Hideki Yoshida (voice) | 5 episodes |
| 2011 | White Collar | Ambassador Kyi | Episode: "What Happens in Burma" |
| 2011–2017 | Grimm | Sgt. Drew Wu | Main role |
| 2017 | Hawaii Five-0 | Joey Kang | Episode: "E uhi wale no 'a'ole e nalo, he imu puhi" |
| 2017–2019 | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Dr. Ronald Yee | 2 episodes |
| 2018 | LA to Vegas | Lewis | Episode: "The Affair" |
| NCIS: New Orleans | Special Agent Steven Thompson | 2 episodes | |
| 2018–2019 | Fresh Off the Boat | Julius | |
| 2019–2021; 2023 | All Rise | Thomas Choi | Recurring role (Season 1), Main role (Season 2), Guest role (Season 3) |
| 2021 | The Rookie | CIA Agent[citation needed] Mike Weston | Episode: "Red Hot" |
| 2022 | Law and Order: Special Victims Unit | Paul Lee | Episode: "Did You Believe in Miracles?" |
| The Lincoln Lawyer | Angelo Soto | Recurring role | |
| 2024 | CSI: Vegas[10] | Undersheriff Zhao |
Video games
edit| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | Tai Huang |
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g Lo, Ricardo F. (May 23, 2007). "Reggie Lee: From Q.C. to Hollywood". The Philippine Star. Archived from the original on 2013-04-19. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
That was 1992 and he was 18.
- ^ a b "The Filipino-American actor in 'Pirates 3' is from Quezon City". Manila Bulletin. June 16, 2007. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
- ^ Villagomez, Kaye (October 7, 2008). "Pinoy actor talks about breaking barriers in Hollywood". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
- ^ a b c Palmer, Debbie (September 13, 2001). "Actor passes up Harvard: Padua grad trades college for leading roles in TV series, movies". Cleveland Sun News. Archived from the original on December 30, 2001.
- ^ "Reggie Lee".[dead link]
- ^ "The Filipino-American actor in 'Pirates 3' is from Quezon City". Manila Bulletin. June 16, 2007. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
- ^ Petski, Denise (20 August 2018). "'NCIS: New Orleans' Casts Reggie Lee; Samantha Sloyan Joins 'SEAL Team'". Retrieved 6 October 2018.
- ^ "Comedian Jo Koy leads 75 Most Influential Filipino Americans list". goodnewspilipinas.com. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
- ^ "About Me". RVValdez.com. Archived from the original on July 4, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
- ^ "CSI: Vegas Adds Reggie Lee for Season 3 (Exclusive)". TVLine.com. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
External links
edit- Reggie Lee at IMDb
- Reggie Lee at FEARnet